Hi all, Just a quick freebie that I've created for the last week of school. It's an editable maths scavenger hunt aimed at 8-9 year olds. It's on Google Slides so perfect for those doing distance learning / remote learning using Google Classroom. Students will need a device on which they can take photographs and add them to this presentation. To download, click here and it will prompt you to make your own copy. Here's a video preview of the resource:
Hello there, Just a quick freebie for you. It's a board game to practice dividing with remainders that I used with my 8-9 year olds. I've included four differentiated sheets. I also differentiated by giving groups either one or two dice and by giving the students the option to solve the problems mentally or to write them down. The game is very simple to play. The students roll a die. They then divide the number they are on by the number on the die. Next, they move forward the number of the remainder. So if I am on 41 and I roll a 5. I would get an answer of 8r1 so I move forward one place. If there is no remainder, they don't move for that turn. Click on this link or the photo to download these sheets for free from my TPT store. Enjoy!
So you've finished the curriculum, the reports are done and dusted and finally you have the chance to do some nice, relaxing activities in the last week of school. Here are lots of ideas for nice activities to do (some that I shared last year and some that I added this year!)
For the little ones: Have a teddy bears' picnic. It doesn't have to involve too much organisation. They could just eat their normal school lunch and do it at a different time and with their favourite teddy bears in tow. If it's dry, it could be a treat to eat their snack on blankets on the grass. If not (for my Irish teacher followers, this is the more likely option once the Leaving Cert weather is over!), you could just clear a space in the classroom and put down the blankets there. They could read "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" and sing "Teddy Bears' Picnic" and the horrifically catchy, "Yogi Bear Song" - WARNING: Do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES show any video entitled "Yogi Bear Song" on YouTube without listening it to yourself first. There is a very non-child-friendly version out there!
For the older children: 3-D hand drawing: This one is pretty easy to do and the results are really striking.
Create their own Harry Potter-inspired plant: Read and respond to some descriptions of magical plants from the Harry Potter series. This article from Garden Design magazine could be useful to jog students' memories. There's lots more information available on the Harry Potter Wikia. The children could then create their own plant(s), draw them and write about them - an art and literacy activity all in one!
Introduce your children to these inspirational quotes (from Jason's Online Classroom). They can then design a poster to write them beautifully and illustrate accordingly. They could be used as a writing prompt so that their story uses the quote as its core.
A table quiz. I'm a self-confessed quiz nerd and am quite happy to ramble off table quiz questions off the top of my head. If you need a bit more guidance, why not use a ready-made quiz like Seomra Ranga's wonderful art quiz (on PowerPoint, created for Digital Art Week but could be tweaked to make it suitable for your needs - non-Irish teachers, there are some questions you might want to change/remove) or this one from The Telegraph (answers are here).
For younger and older students: Fidget spinner stations: If your school hasn't already banned them, why not use this latest craze for some maths, English, P.E. and art stations? Download my free station cards and worksheet pack for this by clicking here or on the image below.
A "field trip" to the next grade. Your children think of questions they would like to ask to children in the class above them. Then they go to that classroom and find out the answers from the "experts." What a fantastic idea from Melissa at Inspire Me ASAP.
Going the other way, this end of year book allows your current students to give advice to incoming students. It's a great way for your students to reflect on what they have learned and it's a lovely thing to begin the school year with if you have the same class level.
Minute to Win It games. Maybe you're familiar with the gameshow "Minute to Win It." I wasn't until Ginger Snaps shared this great idea for some fun class challenges to complete within a minute. She has given the link to the timer (for your board) and a playlist of the instructions to the challenges. She has also given a list of ones she has used and the required materials.
Orienteering around the school grounds. I've created a resource pack with instructions on how to set it up and carry it out and the resources needed. All you have to do is make a map of your school grounds, stick the clues around and hand out the students' sheets. Click here to download it for free from Google Drive.
Superlative Olympics. This is a game I have used to teach comparatives and superlatives to children with English as a second language in summer camps. I made my own cards to go with the game. Click here to read my blog post about how to play. It's suitable for primary school children of all ages and it's loads of fun! Click here or on the image below to download the resources for free from Google Drive.
One of my favourites is to create a maths table quiz to revise the topics you have covered in the year. I put different maths questions on a PowerPoint/Keynote presentation, split the children into teams of 3 or 4. They love working together to solve the problems. Just make sure you put in a few really tricky ones to get them fully engaged!
Have an end of year compliments box. All you need is a box/basket, small pieces of paper and an envelope for each child. Obviously, it would be better to do it a day before they take them home so that you can read them and make sure there is nothing bad in there. Here's a ready-made compliment kit to get you started.Thanks to Blair Turner for creating it.
Create an alpha-autobiography. The children choose words that mean something to them and explain why, for example: A is for Adam, my brother's name, B is for Belfast, where I was born; C is for cycling, my favourite sport... I've made two free-to-download versions, one with lines, one without. Click here or on the image below to download from Google Drive. I'm going to enlarge mine to A3 to give them more space to write/draw.
Hi everyone! Hope you're enjoying the weekend! We're doing rounding (whole numbers) in maths next week and I've been looking around for some resources that could be used to make it a little more interesting! Then I came across these from ColoringSquared.com:
I know the children in my class will love these. It's great to see something more interesting than just numbers and arrows! For anybody who's introducing rounding from the start, I found this video from MathCoachInteractive. I like the way it has the balance that tips to the left or right so the number slides - very visual!
Hi there, I just wanted to share a resource that made my life so easy today! I stood there, looking around the room at all of my children, in pairs, ON TASK for 20 minutes, walking around to different stations. We were using these multiplication by arrays task cards from Tucker's Mama. You can download them FOR FREE from her TPT store. Well worth it!
There are 24 task cards. I stuck them up around the classroom and divided the children into pairs. I placed each pair at odd-numbered stations (so there is space between each pair) and they worked together to solve the multiple choice questions on the cards. The free pack includes an answer sheet for the children and a solution sheet for the teacher. Then, the children swapped sheets and corrected their peers' work (obviously this was re-checked by me afterwards!). The children loved getting up and moving about and really enjoyed this introduction to multiplication.
Another lovely thing to use when teaching arrays is Lego bricks.
I also like to get the children to roll a dice and then show an array of those two numbers. They can draw it in any way - footballs, hearts, smilies or create it using toys, counters, pasta.
Hi all, I can't believe the Rugby World Cup is starting in just two weeks! To celebrate, I've decided to share this freebie with you. It will be available to download for this weekend only. As it's the start of term, let's pretend the weekend starts tonight! Just click here or on the preview image to download. It's a maths game - a target board. The idea is to change the number in the centre each day (just laminate it and you can use a whiteboard marker and rub it off). The children need to make up the target number in different combinations of tries, conversions, drop goals or penalties (remembering that you can't have more conversions than tries!). It could be a handy early finisher activity or it could be used as a morning maths warm-up activity in the older classes. The freebie is part of a bigger resource set. The full set is available in English and in Irish on my TPT store. It costs $3 (less than €3). If you want to download either, click on one of the images below.
Hi there followers, It has been an awfully long time since I've posted new resources. This is due to a combination of factors leaving me with a little less time for blogging. Anyway, here's another freebie to keep you ticking over until the next post! Click on the image below to access simple multiplication loop game cards.
I've also previously posted addition and subtraction versions. If anybody downloaded the subtraction one when I first posted it, there were some mistakes. I have since changed them and uploaded the edited version. Simple subtraction loop game cards Simple addition loop game cards
Hi all, Apologies for not having posted as regularly as I used to. I find I'm spreading work between my school computer and my work computer and don't seem to think about uploading things as much. Also, as my current unit of inquiry is very specific to the local area, I don't really see the point in posting the resources as I can't imagine most of them will be of use to any of you! Anyway, here's a nice little freebie to tide you over for a while. It's a subtraction loop game similar to the addition one I posted previously. I have a "How Fast Can You Go?" chart on the wall to accompany it. I blu-tack an A4 page to it each week to record their best times. It's been 12 weeks and the children love it. In fact, they get quite upset if we don't get around to this on a given day! Just click here or on the image below to download from Google Drive.
I have found loop games great for developing mental maths abilities.They take away from the monotony of learning tables by heart. The children all have to co-operate in order to complete the loop/chain game. When you take note of the speed, children generally love to try and beat their best time. This year I'm only have 6 children in my class. I made these loop cards with this class in mind. Each child will have two cards each and I will have the start card. In this way, they can practice the addition facts from +1 to +12 of any given number. If you have a class of 24 to 26 children, they can all have one card each. You could also split the class into two teams and see who can finish the loop/chain faster. These are very simple addition cards. Previously I have made loops with 24 cards and with double digit addition, subtraction, multiplication and division for larger classes with more children. I have double checked each card for mistakes but I'm still not confident that they are perfect. If anybody notices one, please let me know and I will update them! Click here or on the image to download from Google Docs.
